According to Washoe County Registrar of Voters Dan Burk, nearly 100-thousand voters cast their ballots by the time the early voting period ended on Friday. Burk says it’s partly because of intense interest in the presidential race and partly because polling places were set up in the Scolari’s chain of grocery stores.

"It actually has turned out to be a win-win situation because they actually see their sales go up at their individual stores and of course we have the benefit of being in places where people tend to frequent for the purposes of buying groceries and things."

Burk saw the success of early voting in shopping malls in Las Vegas and wanted to try a similar approach here. But the largest mall in Reno didn’t want to host political activities, so Scolari’s was approached. Its six stores were first used for early voting in 2006. Early voting was first offered in 1996 and only 4-thousand voters turned out.